July 03, 2015

"Lucky Fights It Through" and Other Romantic Encounters

"When Joey put that trumpet to his lips, he blew against the walls of love and hate and every personal feeling I had for him ... And my heart came tumbling down!"

--- And from another story:

"Lucky Jordan was a tophand cowpuncher. He knew steers and horses. He knew the tricks of sticking on a wild bronc's arching back, the loop of a lariat in midair, the thrill of diving towards the curving horns of a brahma bull inside the rodeo arena. But there were some things Lucky didn't know. On the subject of women, he wasn't so wise. So this is Lucky's story and it opens on the graze ground of his little mill iron ranch, over a branding iron fire ... "

Yessir, romance is in the air today at BOTB's Comic Supplement! We're back with a passel of cool stories and art, including work by two giants in the comic book field: Harvey Kurtzmanand Jack Kirby!

Let's learn a few love tricks from the true-life entanglements and foibles presented in our tales today - join us right after the jump!

Let's kick off with this one from Young Romance #3, sporting a Jack Kirby and Joe Simon cover, with the story presented by the terrific art team of Jerry Robinson and Mort Meskin.

Here's a little ditty from artist Warren Kremer(creator of Richie Rich and Hot Stuff, among others, for Harvey Comics), as found in First Love #26, March 1953. Cover art by Al Avison.

Next on our setlist, two pieces by one of our favorites - Jack Kirby. 'Nuff said!

For the first course, this little tale from Young Love #72, November 1956. Cover by Kirby with an unknown inker, and the story by Kirby with inks speculated to be by George Klein.

Swingin'! Now we have a very short "gimmick" story, wherein the readers are asked to write in with solutions to the problem posed by the character in the tale. It's from Young Romance #29, January 1951, with art by Jack Kirby, inked by long-time partner Joe Simon.

What a dilemma! --- Well, let's move on - we have two stories to go in this jam-packed post! Next is a yarn from Young Love, volume 01, number 06, January 1950. The art is by George Gregg, with a Kirby-drawn fellow in the splash panel.

And now, for those EC Comics fans out there, a bit of early Harvey Kurtzman work from a giveaway comic produced by the EC group. Originally published in 1949, we see here a ( not-so-great-quality ) scan of the reprint that appeared in Squa Tront magazine in 1977. It even comes with it's own sheet music! If you haven't seen it before, you will be surprised at the intended purpose of this free comic book.

And that's all for this week! Comments are enabled here once again at the blog - so do keep in touch.Thanks again to the supporters of the Digital Comic Museum, where I find a great deal of what gets presented here.